Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for April 05, 2017

sweet plan, Bernice

Bernice will be a HOA chairwoman someday.

If this abuse of university-bestowed R.A. power so that she can in fact steal confidential information from a dorm resident’s cell phone isn’t “stalking”, then what the heck is??? Bern is risking being expelled from Moony Uni for this flagrantly illegal scheme.

“They Put Up Cameras.”

Bernice used to be the calm, logical character. Now she is the flighty, desperate one. Kind of makes all her preaching to Luann seem hollow now.

Nice plan, in a twisted stalker sort of way.

Bernice seems to have lost all moral bearings. She’s nuts.

A while back, Bernice was taken to task by Gunther because she had been very dishonest and manipulative with him in her pursuit of Piro. She acknowledged her poor judgment and wrote Gunther a long letter of apology.

But it seems she has a short memory of that lesson. Now she’s pulling at least as bad a stunt with Tiffany, and once again it’s over Piro.

So is this some of that ‘smarts’ that Dez suggested Bernice use? Must be a new definition of ‘smart’…

“Let’s see your warrant”

And Tiffany returns saying, “I just remembered my father had a list made just for this reason and… Hey! What are you doing with my phone?”

Then Bernice says, “I was just looking for Piro’s phone number!”

Then Tiffany says, “Ha! The joke’s on you. I don’t have it listed under his name.”

Then Bernice says, “Homeless Hottie? Piro’s not homeless!”

Then Tiffany says, “Have you ever heard of him sleeping at his own place?”

Then Bernice says, “I guess you have a point there.”

I understand the portrayal of Bernice as being somewhat obsessed over Piro even though he’s shown little real interest in her… she’s not the first young woman to go down that path. I’m not liking this stalking and subterfuge angle, though. This is the second or third time she’s abused her RA role in pursuit of Piro. That’s really far out of character for the normally cautious, somewhat persnickety Bernice.

This is the part of the statute in Illinois, my home state, for stalking:720 ILCS 5/12-7.3. Stalking. (2011)(a) A person commits stalking when he or she knowingly engages in a course of conduct directed at a specific person, and he or she knows or should know that this course of conduct would cause a reasonable person to:

(1) fear for his or her safety or the safety of a third person; or

(2) suffer other emotional distress.

I copied this to try to contribute toward combating the inaccurate depiction of the story arc with Bernice as “stalking.” Stalking means putting someone, intentionally, in fear of their safety, and by definition the stalked person would need to be aware that they are being stalked. This is clearly not what is happening here. We have an emotionally repressed romantic young woman, who is dying to know about this mysterious man, and by the way, if she was not so romantically fascinated with him, she still has a duty as a RA to investigate why he, is apparently trespassing in the dormitory, who is at the same time hilariously trying to find out how to contact him. He has no idea she is so fascinated, and he clearly is not in any fear. I know some people may have a hard time understanding this, but ironically she has a duty to try to find out who he is, but she is under the influence of his romantic influence, which if we know the character, means she is attracted to him like a moth to flame. And there is the angle of TIffany being the one with the knowledge, but also the barrier to that knowledge. Now, and again, I don’t mean to be confusing, but that is the way my mind works, given what I used to do for a living, she really does not have a personal legal right to his phone number, and if Mooney U. is a state school, she probably does not have a constitutional right as well, but just as accusing Bernice of stalking , that is carrying the story way out-of-bounds. Bernice is not a stalker.

Bernice may be a Capricorn. (I’m speaking from experience, because I am one – hence W…..goat.)

We Caps typically display intellectual smarts at a very early age. Good in science, and perhaps good in spotting silliness in someone else like Luann. But Caps often are late bloomers when it comes to certain social skills, and particularly romance. Bernice is afraid to just confront it square on, and communicate with someone like Piro. Or in her case, be a little more glamorous and see who she attracts. Being so manipulative, she sets herself up for failure and prolongs her pain.

Bernice has become an obsessive, possessive, manipulative, lying and otherwise crooked, spy and stalker.

She is stalking PIRO, attempting to gain access through Tiffany (Who isn’t as dumb as is thought by the folks here.)

She is lying about her purpose. She needs to be STOPPED, FAST.

She’s about to lose her Dorm position AND her college “dream,” for drama.

I hope Tiffany’s is password protected.

Tiffany sighs heavily “Oh, well, OK.” grabs phone and goes into bedroom

Bernice find another bum.

So the strip is going to paint Bernice – a character that has always been a smart, level headed, strong, independent female – as being so smitten she would stoop to such an elaborate plan to steal a phone number from Tiffany? I’m a little disappointed in this. It goes against pretty much everything Bernie is about.

So will it turn out that Piro is Gay too? Now that would be funny.

I sure hope that by the end of this arc Bernice comes clean and she and Tiffany put their heads together and become closer friends over their mutual concern for Piro.

I thinking the phone will be locked and she’ll get caught trying to “brute force” the password. We’ll see.

This is pathetic.

Bernice has lost her mind over a guy who has never shown any interest in her. Our girl has become dishonest and manipulative and really not likable.

Bernice’s character has morphed into one that doesn’t seem very humorous. Greg E needs to move on.

Okay. Bernice? This is starting to creep me out…

I’m really starting to hate Bernie

For the love, Bernice, just ask Tiffany for the phone number!

Has it ever occurred to Bernice to ask someone other than Tiffany for Piro’s number? Piro has crashed in a lot of dorm rooms (like Hair’s). She could at least ask one of Piro’s friends to call him for her, and tell him that Bernice wants to talk to him. Then he can call her (if he wants to, which he likely doesn’t!).

“In the bedroom”? What kind of DORMITORY “room” is more than ONE ROOM!!!!! This is soooooo stupid!

Bernice is not an evildoer or stalker, she’s just a cartoon girl with the hots for her mystery man. Bernice is whatever our imagination sees her as. In that same vein, I would grab Tiffany’s phone and take a peek at her “selfies”……knowing her, there must some pretty hot stuff in those photos.

Bernice ALMOST looks self-assured in Panels 1 and 2, then all that blows away in Panel 3. If she was truly self-assured, she’d find a better way to get to Piro. Honestly talking about it with others, including Tiff? … NAHHH!

.

Then again, what would be the fun in that?! :)

I feel sympathetic to Bernice, although it is taking some work! If Piro’s number were to magically appear on her contact list, what then? The underlying psychologically insecurities that prevent her from directly expressing her needs to people won’t soon fade away. Piro will value a healthier Bernice more. And instead of “pursuing”, it would be far better to acknowledge and try to understand her attraction to Piro. Share it with Tiffany, and ask for her help, since she has no way to meet up with him (except for seemingly random encounters).

not relevant, but this is where my AVATAR comes form. https://youtu.be/epJ03N31MYk

Am I the only one who thinks this story line is a little dumb. Why would someone like Bernice even be interested in a guy like Piro? I know it’s only a comic but with all the characters in this comic this particular arc is at the bottom of the list.

This story is gonna end with Bernice losing her R.A. position and I hope she does.

“Cashing In On A Check”

“Invent-ory”

“A Jive Mentality”

“It’s Apparel, To Everyone”

“Kitty’s Got Clos-ets”

“99, Left In Rooms…” (♬)

“The Bureau Of Wardrobe”

“The Taxing Standard Of Item Eyes”

“Con, And Then Recon Again”

“If I Want You, Then All I Have To Do Is Scheme…Scheme, Scheme, Sche-eme” (♪)

“Deep See Diver-sion”

“The Imploral Of Occupant Is Occupy”

or

“Phoney, With A Capital Phone”

Well, so far there’s been a lot of “What?”. Now comes some “Why?”. As in, “Bernice, why is this even necessary?”. And a little bit of “Where?”, as in “Where else can I send Tiffany?”.

-

I guess this is a case of two obsessions meeting, where Bernice is now taking advantage of Tiffany’s obsession with accumulating lots of material possessions (a la “Possession Obsession”, by Hall and Oates), to further her own interests, in her obsession with complications…

-

The easier way would have been to get Tiffany to film herself for YouTube, taking a tour of her house and things. People post stuff like that on there, like…a lot ….

Bee has gone from bothersome to blatantly bonkers! Beware, Tiffany; the cray-cray already has her eye on your smartphone….

this stupid girl needs to be taken down. Tiffany should sucker punch her. The school should expel her for abuse of position. the police should bust her for withholding information regarding a crime, Piro should tell her she’s a psycho Fatal Attraction wannabe and get a restraining order. (She’ll be in court anyway for withholding information.) That way, she could begin a whole new thread of this lame comic by being in Prison. Bernice is the new Orange. See, already even got a working title! Begone odious Frizzy girl. Begone!

“Hey Tiff, what’s Your code so I look into Your Phone and get Pyro’s Informa….., Oops.” – Bernice

Man, I hope Bernice gets kicked out of school for this, and then is never featured again in this strip.

Best get that Wall built, too, Bern. You’ll make a fine addition to the Trump team.

4

I am not fond of Bernice’s technique here. It is annoying in the extreme. I can understand her not feeling it likely that Tiffany would willingly give her (Bernice) the number. But, a far better (perhaps less comedic, I guess) way to approach this would have been for Bernice explain the situation to Dez, and ask Dez to talk to Tiffany. If I recall correctly, Piro IS Dez’s friend, and while she apparently does not have Piro’s number, the fact alone that Piro is her friend would make it fully plausible and easy for Dez to go ask Tiffany something like, “Hey Tiff, I think you know my friend Piro, and may have his phone number. Can I get it from you? I don’t have it and I wanted to talk to him.” I cannot see any reason for Tiffany to withhold the number from Dez.

idiot

“And I’ll need your thumbprint on the phone…uh, form”.

Bernice has already been told that Piro (pjɛʁo) is selective as to whom he gives his number.

http://assets.amuniversal.com/47890190c3cc01343b54005056a9545d.jpg

And he hasn’t given it to HER.So, 2 + 2 = no “smarts” for Bernice.

All tend to abuse power once given a taste.

Maybe we’ve got it backwards. Suppose Piro is really homeless (we don’t know this for sure) and suppose he is attracted to Bernice (since she let him stay overnight in her room against the rules). He isn’t overtly pursuing her, believing she wouldn’t be romantically interested in a homeless guy (low self-esteem) and he’s afraid she might think he was stalking her. If this seems out of character for him, well, everyone seems to think Bernice is acting out of character for her. Alternatively, maybe Piro has a wife and six kids living under a bridge because he lost his job and their home when he couldn’t pay the mortgage. This isn’t much farther out than Les finding out Pru is gay. Or maybe Piro is Mr. Grey’s long-lost son who had been disowned. The possibilities are endless.

@PETERSENBUS: I agree that the possibilities are endless as far as Piro’s backstory. I think that’s why so many of us are interested in it…

“Hello, Piro?”

“Bernice? Is that you? How did you get this number?”

“I stole it off Tiffany’s phone! Listen, I was wondering if when you get back from your appointment with Dr. Heald maybe you and I could”

[Piro hangs up and immediately dials 911]

The possibilities may be endless, but the probabilities are with only a few options.

I used to like Bernice. This whole thing with Piro has revised my opinion of her, to the point where I actually like Tiffany more. Interesting development.

And I wonder if Tiffany’s BS meter is about to go off.

Wow, Bernice is getting more and more dis-likable with each new arc. Now she’s pretending to use her “authority” as a R.A. to pretend to grant herself Gestapo-like powers. Disgraceful and disgusting and deplorable! Remember how she was like at H.S. graduation? She even had Tiff help her with a makeover.

If Tiff had a brain (she’s not stupid) the logical thing would be to say, “This doesn’t sound right. Why should I inventory all of my possessions for you? Here. let me check with your supervisor.” Then, BUSTED, Bernice!

Bernice the PI.

God, this is so stupid. Mr Egan… Get a writer. Real writer, NOW.

I have decided this generation calls certain activities “stalking” that were just “pursuing” in my day, as in “All’s fair in love and war.”

Bernice should not call Piro on his cell. I hope she doesn’t. He never gave her his # so it would be intrusive. She should just wait till she sees him again.